Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS)

10/04/2013

CQC's report on its monitoring of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards reveals that there is still a widespread lack of understanding of the wider Mental Capacity Act. The Mental Capacity Act is a very important mechanism for protecting the rights of people who do not have the ability (mental capacity) to make certain decisions for themselves.

CQC's evidence shows that in some care homes and hospitals, people's freedom to make decisions for themselves is restricted without proper consideration of their ability to consent or refuse.

Some examples showed little or no evidence of any attempt to maximise a person's decision-making capacity before resorting to restriction or restraint. The use of the phrase 'best interests' does not always appear to signal that there has been a process of best interests decision-making in accordance with the MCA.